Day 4: So, there is climbing in OC...

Too bad you just have to fight 30 other kids to practice some good dyno's. So, anyhow...I'll let you all just guess where Tyler and I went today. Hint, it has lots of sand... We did get to see some dolphins today which was pretty neat, usually they just swim by and you just see the fin for a second but they were actually a bit playful today and jumping out of the water. I want one. :-)

Day 3: And more beach...

So, I came here for the beach and relaxing and I must say...I'm accomplishing my goal quite well...

Day 2: Beach n' bar...

Good beach day. It was still a bit overcast but it worked for our advantage since it scared away most people. Went to see a band afterwards....band was good, the bar's strawberry daiquiry - superb. Oh, and I'm starting to get concerned that Tyler won't go home with me...that is, unless he can take his cousin (his new best buddy) with him.

Day 1: Crabs are not a-biting...

OC Trip report, 1 of 7


Figured today would be a good day for crabbing with it being a bit overcast. And apparently, I was wrong... What it did turn out to be a good day for was sitting on the deck and relaxing. :-) We hit the boards afterwards, Thrasher's fries...check. If you're jealous now just wait till my weekday updates. hehe >:P

Things I learned this weekend...

Being stung by a wasp makes for a nasty sting, but they don't itch.

You learn how to place gear pretty quickly when you're above a ledge that has 'I want to break your ankle' written all over it.

Some people will believe that a 5.11 (hard!) climb is a 5.7 (fairly easy).

Oh, and at Indian weddings...they have the teenage girls perform a dance before the bride and groom's first dance (which was a tango...whether or not that's Indian tradition, I do not know).

He's a heartbreaker...

Check it out. (Don't mess around with him!!)

Top Five...

...things that run through my head when singing at weddings:

5. if a tambourine is percussion, does that make me vocals/percussion?
4. I'm really not in a "Walking on Sunshine" mood
3. just stay in one spot and you won't trip over the slew of cords
2. we should learn more disco
1. 'I've got to get those shoes...and those...oh, and those...'

Trip report...

Spent this past July 4th weekend at Seneca, WV...

Arrival: "ROOM #9". Why the quotes? Because once you've been in "ROOM #9", the mere utterance of the words will haunt you. Just to give you an idea...there was actually a sign in the room that said 'Please excuse the stains on the sheets...' You get the idea. My sincere thanks goes out to the family who reserved cabin #41 and never showed. All was well.

Day 1: Climbed a bit and slept. Lazy day, ain't nothing wrong with that... Oh, and had a gear placement 101 class...I know what I want for Christmas. :-D

Day 2: Climbed some fun new stuff (had a really really good time, I didn't necessarily get all my climbing ya ya's out but I'm still a newbie...learning is a good thing), ate, and um...drank a lil too much. :-/

Day 3: Thought about climbing...was kinda looking cloudy...I was "under the weather"...sooo, fishing it was. (Almost stepped on a black snake...still freaked out over that one. Yes, I'm a big wimp.)

Day 4: Thought about climbing...it started to rain. Fishing again! And no, we didn't catch anything (of significance, that is).

It was a really great time. I can't wait until the boys are old enough to come along (don't worry, Daphne...only for fishing). Will defintely be back soon...

Venezuela, here I come...

After spotting this pic off rockclimbing.com, Venezuela just got bumped up to numero uno on my 'places I must climb' list.

Questionable promotional piece...

(After my previous post, I scrolled down and to my horror I have subjected my loyal readers to line upon lines of text. I do apologize and offer this pic to break up the monotony.)

I was given this um...'promotional' item from my former print rep. :-D Undoubtedly, the item managed to make it's way around the office with quite a few giggles. I guess it did accomplish the goal of getting people's attention...is it subtle, marketing genious? By the way, it's supposedly a 'giant pen'...judge for yourselves...

Input anyone?...

Couple things...

Anybody ever order prints/photo books from Shutterfly and/or iPhoto? How did they turn out?

Besides fish, what other "brain foods" are good? You know, food to make you remember things (like how to count properly)...

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Should I take Ty's to see this? It's not rated yet. My initial thought was no, but I did take him to see Fantastic Four and he saw the first one (loves Captain Jack Sparrow...as do I, hehe).

Say goodbye to Sweetie...

Tyler's Sweetie has passed and gone on to goldfish heaven. :( I found him when I put Ty's to bed tonight. Ty's wanted to say goodnight, but thank goodness he bought my 'he already went to bed' story. I'm not sure the cause of death, but something about my condo is fish toxic, I haven't been able to keep a fish alive for more than 2 weeks...

A sunny Saturday...

...and I'm inside working on web stuff. I'm not quite sure why I subject myself to this sort of brutality. I keep thinking how nice it would be to be sitting on the pier or on the beach in OC. Hey...I have a laptop, I could still get stuff done. And yes, may I please have some cheese. Thank you.

PS - Everyone watching the big game tonight?? I'm excited...

Low down on the new job...

I like it. And I think the more I work there and get used to the job, the more I'll like it. Right now, I'm at that awkward new person stage. Now, the commute and hours are going to take a little getting used to (could've been worse...), but overall it's been good. I have a grand total of 10 co-workers of which, I believe, I was the first girl hire (another girl started yesterday). All of them seem pleasant enough to work with. It's rather funny, we share office space with another web company so we're all crammed into a tight little space. But we're moving to a big office building in July, so I'll have my corner office then... haha ;-)

On a separate, but related, note...I did lose a client based on my new job. Basically, she informed me (in a very nice and professional way) that since I wouldn't be turn around her jobs during work hours she was going to find another designer. But the plus side to that, I didn't really want to do any more work for her (she's the reason why designers state the amount of revisions in a contract).

Busy weekend...

This was definitely Tyler's weekend, he had a blast. Friday night he had the company of Grant and Colin (although he was disappointed that Parker wasn't there). And Saturday morning he had t-ball then we went to the Fairfax Fair. We ate at Red Robin afterwards and as soon as we got into the car, he just crashed. From his 9am ball game to the day at the Fair...yeah, he was a little worn out (as was I!).


Sunday we went to Burke Lake, which was really nice. It was a gorgeous day, so we had lunch on the boat while all the geese stalked us (they are quite persistent!). Then we went to Stacy's for her birthday get-together (happy birthday Stacy!!). It was nice to hangout by the pool while the kids played. Needless to say, Tyler was not a happy camper when I had to drag him out of the pool.

My musical inspiration...

And I never knew Parker was a Pete Townshend fan...

Movin' on up...

Well, folks it's official...my days at CMC are numbered. 5 to be exact. :-) While the benefits at CMC are really great, I'm just not happy with the job and when you dread coming into work everyday, all the 'perks' tend not to matter as much.

Anyhow, I'll be working in Reston for a communications firm doing web development. I couldn't be happier about the position, it's pretty much exactly what I was looking to do. And they seem to be pretty happy with my skill set so it all worked out well!

Say hello to Sweetie...

Welcome the newest member of the McCullough clan! This is Sweetie, Tyler's new pet. :-)

Yes, I've been blogslacking...

...so, I'll just run down last week in a nutshell here. Wednesday night the band played at Six Flags in Largo, MD. It was our first amusement park gig, and our first superhero audience...


Then we played our 3rd Annual Harley Davidson Memorial Day Open House on Saturday. Wow, the 3rd year we've played it...how time flies! No Cher or Madonna look-a-like's this time around, but they did have a guy juggling fire.


Two gigs in a week (or even just one weeknight gig) was a bit much for me. So, the long weekend was definitely a good thing!!

Go to Red River Gorge...

Believe me, the 9.5 hour car trip is well worth it!!! Here are the pics. We had such a great time. We stayed in a nice little cabin (which worked out quite well considering the alternative would've included setting up camp in the rain...). And we got extremely lucky with the weather. Despite the rain upon arrival, it was perfect weather the whole weekend.

Day One - We went to a climbing area called 'Roadside Crag'...ah, but don't let the name fool you, the area was really beautiful and thankfully, no cars anywhere in sight.

Day Two - Climbed in the 'Torrent Falls' area. This was really quite impressive (as you'll see if you glance at the pics). It's actually private owned land (how'd you like to have that as a backyard?!).


Anyways, it was a really good day. I climbed my first lead (although I did top rope it first...yes, I'm a big ninny). :-) And I climbed my first 5.10a (yeah, yeah....on top rope). Andrew lead this route (amongst the many others), which was really impressive!


Day 3 - To cap off the trip we hiked up to Natural Bridge. It was a nice wind down and again, beautiful area. And sure enough, I manage to not hurt myself the whole trip but of course I whack my knee on a huge, obvious tree stump on the way to the car. Go figure... :-P